Vanitas refers to a 17th century European genre of painting which held morality lessons on the ephemerality of life. For me, this resonates on an entirely new level in present times with rampant consumerism, a throwaway-culture, climate change, and the ensuing existential crises. Although my intention is not to exhort old-fashioned repentance and the adherence to a rigid moral code, I do want to pose questions about morality, our relationships to material objects, and our psychological rapid-cycling states of valuing and devaluing.